


Everything Ends In Pancakes

by fvandomtrvsh, WardenRoot



Series: The Fave Teacher [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Light Angst, alternative universe - no powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 08:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20654450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fvandomtrvsh/pseuds/fvandomtrvsh, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot
Summary: Ava is shocked when Alexa throws her first proper temper tantrum.





	Everything Ends In Pancakes

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to @Starling83 and @LadyXana for betaing this fic <3

The day had started going downhill when they were at the local park — Ava, Sara, Alexa, and Alexa’s friend, Jules. Ava and Sara spent most of their visit relaxing on a picnic blanket in the sun while keeping an eye on the two children, who were running around and enjoying themselves.

Alexa had noticed another pair of children eating ice cream from a cart not too far away, and had dropped what she was doing to beg her mother for some.

“No,” was Ava’s reply. “We have more than enough sweets at home.”

Alexa had pouted but then seemingly forgotten about it when her friend told her about a cool flower she found somewhere in the park. Ava watched as they ran away from her and Sara’s perch.

She took her second ‘no’ of the day just a little worse. 

Alexa and Jules came back a little later not with a flower, but with a  _ dog _ . 

“Hey, Lex. I thought you were going to pick flowers?” Sara asked as she reached a hand out to pet the small canine.

“I was!” Alexa said from where she was kneeling next to the dog. “But then a butterfly showed me the way to Snuggles!”

“A butterfly took you to the dog?” Sara asked with a smirk as she tilted her head.

Alexa simply nodded as she ran her fingers through the dog’s soft fur. “Can we keep him?” she asked after a beat, turning her head to face Ava.

“I— what?” Ava asked, not having been prepared in the slightest for the question.

“We found him alone! The butterfly wanted us to have him!” As Alexa spoke, her friend nodded along to her words with a serious expression.

“Sweetie, we can’t keep him. He probably belongs to someone who is looking for him as we speak.” Ava’s voice was soft but firm as she looked between the dog and her daughter. The dog had dirty blonde fur and, upon further inspection, a small golden plaque that hung from its throat.

“But—” Alexa started, clearly not done arguing her point.

“The answer is no, Alexa,” Ava said, narrowing her eyes at the dog as he let out a ‘woof!’. “Now return him to where you found him.”

“Fine,” Alexa said and rolled her eyes before stomping away with Jules and Snuggles right at her heel.

By the third time Alexa got a ‘no’ from her mother, it was clear that she was becoming tired of it. 

Ava had just gotten Sara to fetch the girls after Jules’ mom had called, ready to pick her up. Ava had stayed behind to pack up their things and had just finished when the three of them bounced up to her.

“It’s time to go,” she said as she took a quick look around them to make sure the dog from before was nowhere to be seen.

“But we want to play more!” Alexa said, followed by Jules nodding.

“It’s getting late and Jules’ parents are coming to pick her up,” Ava responded with a frown. It was not often that Alexa decided to challenge her mother’s words.

“We’re going to Big Belly Burgers!” Jules said excitedly and shared a look with Alexa.

“Can we go too?” Alexa asked, a light shining in her eyes as she looked expectantly at Ava.

“We have food at home,” Ava sighed, wanting more and more to be done with the day.

“But we eat at home every day!” Alexa huffed, her small eyebrows drawn together.

Ava paused, not quite sure how to answer that. Of course they ate at home, where else would they eat daily?

“We can eat out some other time. Remember we prepared the meat before we left so it’d be ready when we got back? You don’t want it to be ruined just for a burger, do you?” Sara said as she crouched down to Alexa’s height. 

Alexa sighed, the crease between her brows deepening. “No,” she said in the end, clearly unhappy with Sara’s logic.

“Great!” Ava said as she reached for both Alexa’s and Sara’s hands to hold. Alexa reached for Jules’ with her free hand and then they all walked towards the park’s exit.

Despite Alexa’s agreement with Sara, she sulked the whole car ride home. She lightened up a little as she helped prepare dinner, when she had something to do, but the sulking resumed as they ate. Ava was at a loss for what to do until Sara suggested they watch a cartoon to unwind.

The cartoon immediately got Alexa’s attention, and for the rest of the evening, she was happily snuggled between Ava and Sara. Ava even let her stay up a little while longer in the hope that she would not go to bed cross.

Oh, how wrong she had been.

“Alright, it’s time for bed,” Ava said as she reached for the remote to turn the cartoon off before the next episode could start.

“Nooo!” Alexa said, immediately turning to her mother as the picture on the TV froze.

“Yes,” Ava said with a frown, not expecting the response.

“I want to watch more!” Alexa crossed her arms and stared straight into Ava’s eyes.

“You can watch more tomorrow,” Ava reasoned, still trying to find out why her usually obedient daughter was acting like this. When Alexa did not budge, she looked at Sara, who looked as shocked as Ava felt.

“Come on,” Ava said and tried to take Alexa’s hand. Alexa pulled away from her before she could so much as touch her, and the action hurt more than Ava thought it should. Alexa had never pulled away from her before.

“Sara, please, can I watch more?” Alexa asked, turning to Sara with her best puppy expression. Another action that felt like a strike to Ava’s heart — her daughter had never deferred to anyone else’s authority when Ava was present.

“That’s your mom’s decision, kid,” Sara said as she glanced between Alexa and Ava with her mouth slightly open.

Alexa’s response was simply to turn back to Ava with the same steely gaze as before.

“Alexa Dawn Sharpe, go to bed right  _ now _ ,” Ava said in her best Mom™ voice. “If you don’t, you’ll have to wait until next week to watch more of the cartoon.”

“But the dragon just hatched!” Alexa’s steely demeanor dropped for just a second at Ava’s words, before it returned full force.

It took a few seconds of Ava staring her daughter down for Alexa to finally give in. She slid off the couch and padded over to the stairs with heavy footsteps, her arms still crossed and without saying another word.

Ava sighed, a sick feeling taking root in her stomach at what had just transpired. She almost jumped when she felt a warm hand on her thigh, but relaxed as soon as she felt it moving reassuringly.

“I’ll be right back,” she said and formed her mouth into a line.

“Okay,” Sara said, her blue eyes frowning as Ava got up. She gave Ava a smile that was much more optimistic than Ava felt. 

She found Alexa in the upstairs bathroom staring stubbornly at her reflection in the mirror. She was still wearing her day clothes and her toothbrush stood untouched on the counter.

“Brush your teeth while I find you some pajamas,” Ava said, biting her lip as Alexa simply continued to stare into the mirror without acknowledging Ava’s presence.

Ava collected the first clean pajamas she could find in Alexa’s room before going back to the bathroom. When she arrived, Alexa was spitting into the sink before discarding her toothbrush.  _ At least that is one step down _ , Ava thought.

“Lift your arms,” Ava said, praying to whatever deity there was that Alexa wouldn’t ignore her request.

Alexa went back to staring into the mirror without bothering to turn to face Ava, but at least her small arms were raised into the air instead of being crossed at her chest. Ava took a deep breath before she wrangled Alexa from her day clothes into her night clothes.

Once Alexa was in her pajamas and her other clothes were in the laundry basket, Ava reached for her, thinking she would carry her to bed. When she reached out, however, Alexa evaded her arms for the second time that evening and ran past Ava on a path to her bedroom.

Ava had to take a few moments to just stand in the bathroom, completely dazed by her daughter’s actions. She drew another shaky breath before moving, reminding herself that Alexa was a child and children were prone to tantrums, and that as the parent, Ava had to put her foot down. It was not like she had not done the same thing tons of times with her misbehaving agents.

Still, doing it to her own daughter felt that much worse.

When she arrived in Alexa’s room, Alexa was already underneath the covers with all the lights turned off. 

Which never happened. 

For one, the light was always on until Ava turned it off when leaving, but even more, Alexa  _ always _ requested her mom tuck her into bed.

“Do you want me to read you a story?” Ava asked tentatively, hoping Alexa would lighten up. To her disappointment, Alexa simply stared at the roof. “Okay,” Ava sighed as she walked the few steps to get to Alexa’s bed. “I love you,” she said and reached for Alexa’s cheek as she leaned down to kiss her forehead.

Alexa ripping her head away followed by a hissed out, “I  _ hate _ you,” felt harsher than any strike ever could. Ava did not realize until after that the blow had made her stumble backwards, leaving two steps in between herself and the bed. 

Ava did not know what to do other than stare as her daughter, the person she loved more than anything or anyone else, laid unmoving in the bed.

“Goodnight,” she whispered in the end, so low she did not know if it was even audible at all, before she made for the door. The moment it was closed behind her, a wet trail made its way down her cheeks and her breathing grew erratic.

_ “I hate you.” _ Ava could never have imagined Alexa saying those words, could never have prepared for the effect from hearing them.

She did not remember stumbling her way down to Sara, just knew that suddenly she was crying in Sara’s arms with Sara’s worried voice asking her what had happened.

“She said she hates me,” Ava eventually forced out between bursts of sobbing. As the words left her lips, she felt like all the air in her lungs followed them.  _ How could this have happened? _

“Oh,  _ Ava _ ,” Sara breathed, her fingers moving light as feathers through Ava’s hair. “She’s a kid, they throw tantrums sometimes,” Sara began, but Ava interrupted her before she could continue.

“She said she  _ hates _ me, Sara. I—” Ava drew in a sharp breath, wishing Sara’s embrace would consume all of her so she did not have to continue listening to those three words replaying in her mind over and over again. Maybe Ava was not fit to be a mother after all.

“She didn’t mean it. Kids say these things sometimes, they don’t think about what it actually means.” Logically, Ava knew Sara’s words to be true, but in the moment it did nothing to dull the pain she felt. “She’ll come around after she’s had some rest. She loves you, so, so much, she’s just tired. And you did the right thing, putting your foot down,” Sara continued as her hand rubbed soothing circles into Ava’s back.

“You think so?” Ava asked. Her voice was small but Sara still seemed to hear it.

“I know so,” Sara said and pressed a kiss to Ava’s forehead. It calmed her down a little, but a war still waged inside her.

It took Ava hours to fall asleep that night, even with the calming beat of Sara’s heart beneath her ear and Sara’s arms securely wrapped around her.

***

Sara awoke to the slow sound of Ava’s breathing. She lightly touched the pads of her fingers to Ava’s cheek and laid there just looking at her. She could still see dried lines of salty liquid on Ava’s cheeks but, currently, her expression was mercifully peaceful.

Sara could never have imagined last night going as it had, could never have imagined having to comfort a devastated Ava well into the morning. It was obvious that this was the first real tantrum Alexa had had since moving in with Ava, and it broke Sara’s heart how much it had affected both of them.

When she glanced at the clock — already showing an hour later than when Ava liked to wake up — then looked back to Ava’s tranquil face, Sara had an idea.

She carefully extracted herself from the bed and Ava’s embrace, holding her breath when Ava stirred slightly. She released it when Ava pulled Sara’s pillow into her arms and went right back to sleep.

Sara was certain she had never walked as slowly and carefully as she did when she padded from Ava’s room to Alexa’s. Alexa turned in her bed to face the door when Sara entered, her eyes first looking big and hopeful before dropping when she saw who it was.  _ Ouch, _ Sara thought, even though she knew Alexa’s reaction was due to the way last night had gone down.

“Hey, kid,” Sara said as she sat down on the side of the bed and reached for Alexa’s face to brush her messy hair out of her eyes.

Alexa, always  _ talkative _ and cheery Alexa, simply pressed her lips into a line in greeting.

“Did you sleep well?” Sara asked in an effort to get her talking, but Alexa simply shook her head slowly.

“Yeah, me neither,” Sara sighed.

Alexa averted her gaze, staring avidly at her closet door instead of the body on her bed.

“I don’t think your mom did either,” Sara continued, and this time, Alexa flinched at her words.

“Is mommy okay?” Alexa asked, her voice small, speaking up for the first time.

“She will be,” Sara said as she moved her hand down to cup Alexa’s small cheek. “But last night, what you said, it made her feel pretty sad in here.” Sara moved her hand down further until it was resting lightly right on top of Alexa’s heart.

“I didn’t mean to,” Alexa said, her bottom lip trembling slightly as her mouth hung slightly open and her eyes were wide, looking at Sara.

“I know you didn’t,” Sara said and made her index and middle finger “walk” from Alexa’s chest to her face so she could gently boop her nose. “What do you say we go downstairs and make your mom breakfast to show her how much we care about her?”

Alexa nodded and reached her hands up towards Sara. Sara smiled and wrapped her arms around Alexa’s torso, pulling her with her as she stood up. Alexa put her arms around Sara’s neck and happily allowed herself to be carried.

Sara paused when they reached the top of the stairs and glanced over to Ava’s door that was just slightly ajar, trying to listen if she had woken up or not. After a few seconds of silence, Sara decided she was still asleep and continued down the stairs.

“What should we make?” Sara asked as she put Alexa down on the counter and glanced around the kitchen.

“Pancakes!” Alexa said.

“Pancakes it is,” Sara said and got to work finding the recipe Ava kept around despite the latter already knowing the recipe by heart. “They’re probably not gonna be as good as your mom’s, but I’m sure we can make something edible.” Making Ava’s own delicious recipe was daunting, but Sara hoped it would put a smile on those lips.

“Why don’t you go get the eggs and milk?” Sara asked, gesturing to the fridge with her head as she singled out the cupboard containing the bowls.

“Okay!” Alexa said and jumped down from the counter.

Sara got to work finding all the dry ingredients, but she frowned when Alexa still hadn’t returned to the counter as she finished mixing them together. Turning around, she found Alexa staring into the open fridge.

“Lex?” she asked and stepped closer to her.

“Huh?” Alexa said, turning to look at Sara. When Sara only raised an eyebrow at her, she continued with, “I forgot what I was getting…”

“The eggs and milk,” Sara said with an easy smile, stretching her hand out so Alexa could give her one of them.

Alexa nodded and turned back to the fridge, quickly locating what they needed.

“You wanna crack the eggs?” Sara asked after everything was laid out on the counter.

“Can I?” Alexa asked, her big grin and slight jump reminding Sara of a puppy.

“Of course,” Sara said and lifted Alexa up on the counter again. “Just do like this,” she said, holding Alexa’s hand as she showed her the motions.

They managed to get everything in without too much trouble, and soon enough they had a finished batter. As Sara was heating the stove, she got another idea. She thought about looking up how to execute it on her phone but decided she had seen her dad and Ava do it enough times that it couldn’t be  _ that _ hard.

An assumption she soon learned was wrong but, if she had the chance to go back, she wouldn’t have changed it.

Sara stared dumbly at her fourth failed pancake art of the morning. Alexa was happily munching on the last few pieces of the last one from her spot on the counter, both of them having shared the other failed attempts.

Maybe she should have looked up what to do, but how was she supposed to know pancake art was going to be that complicated? She hadn’t even tried to do anything intricate!

She sighed as she plated the newest attempt, figuring that what mattered most was that she and Alexa actually finished their first idea — waking Ava up with delicious breakfast and lots of love.

“Get the juice?” Sara asked as she put the plate down on the breakfast tray and fetched a clean glass for Ava.

It didn’t take long for them to have a full tray assembled, hopefully tasting better than it looked. Sara and Alexa shared a high five before Sara carefully lifted the tray and followed an energized Alexa up the stairs.

By the time Sara reached the door, Alexa had already managed to jump onto her mother’s bed.

“Good morning,” Sara said with a smile as Alexa hugged Ava’s waist.

“Good morning,” Ava said groggily as she blinked her eyes open. One of her arms moved to rest on Alexa’s back, pulling her closer.

“We made you breakfast.” Sara lifted the tray to draw Ava’s attention to it.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Ava said, but the soft look she gave both of them made it more than worth it.

“I’m sorry,” Alexa piped up, hiding her face in her mother’s side.

“It’s okay,” Ava sighed, looking down at her daughter with a look so full of love and adoration that Sara almost had to look away in fear of intruding on the moment.

“I love you!” Alexa pulled her face back and stared at Ava’s, almost looking at the verge of tears with the way her bottom lip trembled and her eyes were as wide as Sara had ever seen them.

“I love you too, honey.” Ava brushed some hair out of Alexa’s face before leaning down to kiss her forehead, sighing as Alexa pressed into the touch. “Now, what’s for breakfast?” Ava asked as her stomach rumbled.

“Pancakes,” Sara said as she finally took the required steps to reach Ava’s bed. She gently placed the tray over Ava’s lap and bent down to press a soft kiss to her lips. Sara held her breath as Ava took in the state of the pancake.

“It was supposed to say ‘We heart you’ but it turns out that isn’t as easy as it looks,” Sara said sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.

“It’s perfect,” Ava said, looking up at Sara with wet eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sara asked softly, moving her hand to cup Ava’s cheek.

“ _ Everything _ is perfect,” Ava sighed, turning her head so she could kiss the base of Sara’s palm. “Thank you.”

Ava smiled at her and Sara was powerless to do anything but return it, overjoyed to see those soft lips turned up instead of down. She crawled into bed next to Ava and rested her head on her shoulder, listening amicably to Alexa chatting away as Ava ate her breakfast, the atmosphere of the group once more light and easy and just the way it was supposed to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Find us on tumblr @fvandomtrvsh and @wardenroot


End file.
